Xbox, Surface and cloud successes cover up Microsoft financial slump

Redmond has revealed the results for Q3 of its fiscal year (the quarter running up to the end of March), with a headline revenue of $20.4 billion (£12.15 billion), which was down very slightly from $20.5 billion (£12.2 billion) at the same time last year.

While revenue was essentially flat, then, the amount of cash Microsoft actually pocketed dipped a little more, with net income down to $5.66 billion (£3.37 billion), a drop of almost 7 per cent year-on-year. Operating income was $6.97 billion (£4.15 billion), which was up 8 per cent on Q3 2013.

Microsoft noted that its Devices & Consumer revenue went up 12 per cent, reaching $8.3 billion (£4.9 billion). Windows OEM revenue was up 4 per cent, and Windows OEM Pro revenue was up considerably with a 19 per cent rise.

Redmond also boasted that Office 365 Home put on a million subscribers in the quarter, with a total of 4.4 million now.

On the hardware front, Microsoft shifted 2 million consoles, 1.2 million of them being Xbox Ones. The number of Surface units shifted wasn't mentioned, but Microsoft did say that revenue was up 50 per cent, and hit around $500 million (£300 million).

Commercial revenue went up 7 per cent to $12.2 billion (£7.3 billion), with a healthy picture regarding Microsoft's cloud efforts – Office 365's takings more than doubled, and Azure revenue was up 150 per cent.

New CEO Satya Nadella proceeded to bang the cloud and mobile drum again, stating: "This quarter's results demonstrate the strength of our business, as well as the opportunities we see in a mobile-first, cloud-first world. We are making good progress in our consumer services like Bing and Office 365 Home, and our commercial customers continue to embrace our cloud solutions. Both position us well for long-term growth. We are focused on executing rapidly and delivering bold, innovative products that people love to use."